Care Goondiwindi

Case Study Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DIDRR) in action Care Goondiwindi Collaborating with local authorities to better inform Person-Centred Emergency Preparedness plans The Queensland border town of Goondiwindi sits In the past, Care Goondiwindi created disaster on the banks of the Macintyre River and in the response plans in isolation but now works in floodplains at the headwaters of the Murray collaboration with local authorities, which has Darling Basin. proved a win-win for all. The tree-lined streets are home to approximately 6,300 people but the town provides services to a Understanding the complexity of emergency regional population of more than 15,000. planning Care Goondiwindi is a good example of a Care Goondiwindi CEO Tracy Macdonald says a collaborative style of service provision. It offers number of events helped bring the complexity of services designed to improve the quality of life of emergency planning as a disability provider into local people but also those in the broader Western sharp focus. Queensland region including people with disability, Reflecting on the lessons of the lethal floods that their families and carers. swept through Toowoomba and Ipswich in 2011 An Approved Registered NDIS provider since was one of these. That event knocked out mobile 2016, Care Goondiwindi offers individualised NDIS phone towers and left many service providers short packages, respite care, holiday programs plus handed as staff had to leave work to protect their social programs for young people with disability. own homes and families. There were also tragic cases of vulnerable people becoming isolated in Goondiwindi experiences a flood event about every their homes. couple of years. The last occurred in April 2021, when Goondiwindi’s levees, first built in 1956, were Another occurred a few years later when able to stop floodwaters inundating the town. Goondiwindi Regional Council sent out an emergency mobile phone text message during a weather event to “evacuate, evacuate, evacuate”. “It was 6pm on a Friday evening and there had “I needed the LDMG to include me, so that when been no prior warning. Most of our staff had gone things were difficult within the community, no home,” Tracy says. “My first thoughts were, ‘what matter the type of disaster we might encounter, we about our clients? Some of them can’t read; some were in the loop of information,” she says. don’t have mobile phones, even those who do, may However, the sharing of valuable information soon not have them switched on.” proved a two-way street. Care Goondiwindi was “When that message went out, it was a very clear able to represent the perspective of the people it indicator for us that we were not fully prepared for a supports and the needs of service providers to plug natural disaster like a flood.” an important gap for authorities. “We have updated our business continuity plan due “We have a very good network amongst other to COVID-19 and while some of that planning was organisations in this community, which has allowed relevant, it was not a plan for all natural disasters us to coordinate with other providers and services such as a flood,” Tracy says. to get the right support that our clients need,” Tracy explains. That gap in planning was further illustrated when Tracy and Care Goondiwindi’s Quality Assurance “In regional and remote areas, you’ll find a Officer, Virginia Shipp, attended a disaster collaborative, strong and trusted stakeholder preparedness seminar. network is critical to all operations,” she says. “When I asked to join the LDMG, they realised that Stepping inside the information loop to share a the community sector wasn’t represented in their unique perspective plan. They needed us to be included to understand As a first step in improving its DIDRR response, our perspective.” Tracy joined the Goondiwindi Regional Council’s Tracy says that when Goondiwindi was issued with Local Disaster Management Group (LDMG). This an evacuation order several years ago, no thought provided the organisation with access to the had been given to creating advice for people strategies of council and also the Queensland sheltering in their homes. Department of Communities. “The LDMG had thought of the aged care Taking the next steps to strengthen DIDRR sector and had evacuated aged care facilities. The next step for Care Goondiwindi is to It also evacuated hospitals but there was no incorporate the knowledge gained from managing communications tailored to the general community COVID-19 safety and from the LDMG into its new let alone people with disability. People did not disaster response plan. have access to information that would help them understand the message that went out.” “We’ve probably done the biggest body of work for our people with disabilities because we’ve got “This proved an, ‘OMG moment’ for LDMG where comprehensive risk assessments on all of them. they realised, ‘wow, we actually never thought That allows us to find some key areas that highlight about that’.” those most at risk to develop a person-centred plan “We became better informed about the that caters to the needs of individuals,” Tracy says. Goondiwindi Council’s disaster preparedness plan, which included all the main services in the town - Care Goondiwindi lessons your organisation can health, education, police, council, electricity, water leverage and all the emergency response groups.” • Collaboration and support across all community “And the LDMG had new input to help it consider services is essential to meet the needs of your how emergency planning information is seen by entire community. high-risk groups on a community level and what the • If you haven’t already, get involved with your impacts are to them. We were able to represent the LDMG. Understand what knowledge you have voices of this group and be their main contact on to share that will improve the disaster response the LDMG.” plans of your local authorities. “This was the biggest win for both of us. We • Work together with people with disability and became better informed, but we were able to emergency personnel to identify and address protect the people that we support by helping the extra supports that people need in times emergency services understand who they are, of disaster. where they are and what their issues are,” Tracy says. This case study was produced as part of the Disability Inclusive and Disaster Resilient Queensland Project which was proudly supported by the Queensland Government through the Queensland Disaster Resilience Fund (QDRF) and the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy. It was led by the Centre for Disability Research and Policy at the University of Sydney and conducted in partnership with the Queenslanders with Disability Network (QDN) and the Community Services Industry Alliance (CSIA) For more information: www.collaborating4inclusion.org .

Load more